Top Chef 5: New York

Today, Bravo officially announced that Top Chef: New York kicks off on Wednesday, November 12 at 10 p.m. ET/PT with a "super-sized" episode! 17 new chefs are competing in the fifth season, which includes judges Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, and introduces a new judge: Toby Young. Toby is a food critic and also the author of the hilarious memoir-soon-movie, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.

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The new season is also set to include some A-list special guests, including Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Wylie Dufresne, Rocco DiSpirito, Martha Stewart, and the Foo Fighters. (Hmmm... one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-other much?)

Below, a list of the 17 new cheftestants. More thoughts on them later.